St. Olav is the most beloved saint among Norwegians, and the cathedral in Trondheim is the most beautiful in Norway. The spire of the cathedral is especially beautiful. And they tell such a legend about this spire.
Saint Olav planned to build the highest temple for the glory of the Lord. He erected the walls - and then he realized that he, and no one else, could not crown them with a spire, that spire was too huge. Great was the grief of the saint. And he said in his hearts:
“If there was a person who could crown this cathedral with a spire, I would get him the sun from the sky!”
A troll who lived in the mountains near Trondheim heard about these words. He came to the saint and said:
“You promised to give the sun to the one who would complete the cathedral for you.” So I came, prepare your payment. Just don’t try to call me by name while I’m working. Well, you don’t know him anyway, so I have nothing to be afraid of,” he said and got to work.
Here Saint Olaf regretted his words about the sun, but how can you help now? He had only one hope - that he would suddenly be able to find out the troll's name. The saint has been deprived of sleep and peace, wanders around the outskirts of Trondheim day and night and mutters different names to himself.
One day he was returning from Ladehammer to Trondheim. In Ladehammer the saint was detained by various matters, and it so happened that he had to go back in the dark. The road went through the mountains, and midnight found Olaf on a rock called Herringa - the Witch. And the saint hears as if a child’s cry is coming from somewhere underground. He stopped and listened. And sure enough, a child is crying somewhere, and his mother is comforting him:
- Don’t cry, baby, Twester will come and bring you heavenly gold, which is in the sky during the day.
“Twester,” the saint repeated to himself, in order to better remember the outlandish name, “and quickly went to Trondheim. He came to the city and saw: the troll was just finishing his work - attaching the last golden ball to the top of the weather vane.
“Somehow, Tvester, you’ve skewed the weather vane to the west,” the saint called out to the troll. When the troll heard his name, he fell down from the spire and fell to his death.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru